Death of a Lily
by LadySariku
Summary: Can Kenshin save Karou, or will they go down togethor? ONE SHOT


I do not own the characters, but they are there. This is _my_ updated story! I have been questioned if I had stolen this from someone and reposted it, but it is purely MINE. If you recall seeing an earlier but very similar version, this is simple to explain. I had that one posted up for a number of years and seeing how poorly written it was, I re-edited it to meet my current standards and I might've changed a few things here and there. Hence why it may seem familar, but I assure that I have not stolen it from anyone, and the work is my creation. Thanks for reading!!

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He had everything. Anything he could want in life; except for her. He had lost her, the only thing that he truly cherished in life. What had gone wrong? Last night, she had whispered in his ear, **"I love you, but I just can't take it anymore."** She then fled, leaving him behind, brokenhearted. Deep in his heart he knew that she would come back, but not to him. She'd go to her special place at the end of the peninsula that protruded in front of his mansion. It was there that he had proposed to her, with the sun gleaming softly in the background, and the sound of the waves crashing amongst the glistening, surf beaten rock. Once she had found that she could escape to the peninsula without him following her, that's where she would eventually come to spend her days, away from the world. He snapped out of his surreal daydream, and he watched as she maneuvered skillfully through the middle of the pathway. Careful of the treacherous footing that could throw a careless wanderer down its steep sides that led to only a slow, painful death on the concealed rocks. Other unknown dangers lay beneath the foaming sea that had claimed many a soul before he had bought the barren land.With her pure white kimono and long raven hair fluttering playfully in the breeze, he thought how beautiful she was compared to when she had first came here, as he watched her. A lone rock lay in the middle of a small clearing at the end of the pathway, a perfect seat for anyone that cared to brave the winding path in order to reach it. She leaned against the front of that very same rock, just staring out into the sea. That's all she had done for most of their relationship; just go out there and stare out into the sea, leaving him to find comfort in the arms of other women.

It wasn't that he didn't love her! He loved her more than life itself. It was the fact that she would never return his love, and never had since the day that she had arrived, blushing and shy. He had treated her kindly, and waited for her to get over her initial fear, and grow accustomed to his presence. Soon, she had stopped blushing and looking down at the floor whenever he approached her, but never seemed to warm to his person. He figured that she might want him to do the pursuing in the relationship, and reacted accordingly. But any kisses, any embraces...she just stood there like a lifeless marble statue until he reluctantly walked away. The only time he could get a real reaction out of her was when he threatened to sell the house and move them to America. She would snap out of her zombie-like act and bombard his ears with a volley of angry arguments until he would give up the fruitless pursuit and leave her alone. They had this argument many times before, and would surely have it again sometime soon. Cursing to himself for ever thinking about purchasing a mail order bride, he angrily stomped out to his silver Mercedes and careened out of the driveway to find solace with yet another woman. A few hours later and humming a catchy tune to himself, he had pulled his car into the driveway. Feeling much better about his current situation, he was lost in his thoughts about how he could make it up to Karou, his eye caught a motion - the corner of a pure white kimono. Now stained, it looked like a crimson flame fluttering helplessly in the wind. With his heart hammering in his ears, he raced across the meticulously kept lawn and he clattered across the boundary, heedless of the terrifying dangers that lurked around the edges and with his eyes fixed upon the kimono sleeve fluttering in the evening breeze.

He yelled, **"Karou! Damn it, Karou, answer me!", **straining with every fiber of his very being to hear a response that would never come. Finally, he came to where she had so unexpectedly ended her life. What had once been a snow-white kimono was now dyed a crimson red, creating a chilling and ghastly pattern of death across it and blurring the very edges of sanity itself. Her fragile hands - the ones that had once clasped his own so gently - were now clutched upon the hilt of a dagger now buried deep within her lifeless heart. The once bright and lively jade eyes that he loved to gaze into were now dimmed in death. He reached out trembling and gently touched the water lily that was nestled in her hair, a silent reminder of how much he had desperately wanted to love her, and to have that love returned. He had given her water lilies oh so long ago, when he had first attempted to court her. Now, they marked the death of his loved one. Even death could not keep her beauty, and suddenly he knew what he had to do. He reached down and cradled her death-stricken body gently in his arms. Stepping up to the edge of the peninsula, he softly kissed her forehead and whispered, **"For you, dearest - I said that I would be by your side forever, and now I'm honoring the promise that I could not keep to you in life."**With a fleeting last glance over his right shoulder at the materialistic remains of the life he had worked so hard to build, he tensed himself and leapt off with her hugged tightly to his chest. For a brief moment, it seemed that time paused as the two entwined lovers were soaring high above the perilous waters. They fell into the aquamarine depths, never to be seen again. It was days later, when one of the rescue team found something wrapped around a salt encrusted rock that was too far above the ground for any human to see without aid, let alone actually reaching it. The weary searcher had found a perfect, blood stained water lily.


End file.
